KANSAS CITY, Mo. (DTN) -- Lenders, economists and producers at the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank's Agricultural Symposium Tuesday agreed with the keynote speaker who laid out the case for muted optimism for agriculture in the next 10 years.

J.P. Gervais, chief agricultural economist for Farm Credit Canada, recognized world population growth and changing diets are expected to increase global food demand by 60% (revised down from 70%) between 2007 and 2050, citing the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). "But what people often overlook is the same FAO report says '(yet) world production would need to increase at rates ...